Into the cockfighting arena

Dating back to pre-colonial days, sabong, or cockfighting, remains very much a male pastime in the Philippines. The blood sport is played out in arenas throughout the country, especially on weekends, almost always sending bettors and spectators into a frenzy.

Charisse Orjalo visited a Malabon arena one Sunday where she mingled with the sabungeros, kristo, sentenciador and other habitués. She recounts the experience in this podcast in Filipino:

(The podcast was produced by Charisse S. Orjalo, a senior journalism student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, for her J196 seminar class under VERA Files trustee Yvonne T. Chua. VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. VERA is Latin for “true.”)